In some ways, Buckinghamshire has been several years ahead of trend when it comes to public libraries. It pushed through closures which caused protests and then volunteer-run libraries more than six years ago. The relative success of these then led to yet more volunteer run libraries last year, with the lessons having been learnt. A heartwarming Big Society success story? Hardly. The council has just now announced yet more cuts to the service, despite Bucks being one of those councils least affected by the cut in government funding. Another hard-learned lesson from Bucks therefore may be that volunteering in libraries doesn’t stop the cuts, it just encourages more.

A few articles on national trends today. We have the most recent Taking Part survey from the DCMS that shows that the proportion of the population using public libraries is continuing to fall (although not as fast as they have done in some years since 2005/6). Other articles may give reasons for this decline. The Express interviews Annie Mauger of CILIP who squarely places the blame on the cuts to library budgets. An unrelated Neilsen survey sees a decline in child’s reading as partly due to the rise of social networking and a lot to do with the rise of tablet PCs and apps. The real answer seems to be, of course, a bit of both, with the continuing and accelerating decline in funding to libraries working in tandem with the rise of competitive technologies like the internet, e-books and apps. There is also the point where cuts in funding mean that libraries, even if they wanted to, cannot keep up with digital change. Simply because they cannot often afford it. Between a rock and a hard place, in other words.

Right, now some good news. It looks like from what I can tell that this has been a real bumper year for the summer reading challenge. Creepy House medals are in distinctly short supply. So, that means that a ton of children have been using libraries this Summer and that they would have brought in parents as well (five times, normally – once for joining, three times for stickers and once for the awards ceremony) and that’s great for those, like all of us, who believe that libraries have a future, no matter what is happening in Sunderland or Derbyshire.

“I wish only to emphasise thatthe library function will continue to be professionally managed as part of the Kirklees Council Library Service. The Library Service will continue to supply one part time paid member of staff (as now) and thatbooks, electronic resources, licences and equipment, hardware and software to enable access to the Library Service user database will be the responsibility of the library service.. Details of the project can be found here: http://denbydale.theoriginweb.co.uk” Biddy Fisher. See previous Public Libraries News post.

By far the most important motion of the two (to everyone but a few) was the one passing a vote of no confidence in the current minister for libraries, Ed Vaizey. This man has made non-intervention an art form over the last couple of years of the deepest cuts to public libraries in peacetime history, despite a history in opposition stridently advocating the opposite of what he is doing now. It is therefore no surprise that 669 voted for the following motion with less than a third of that figure (200) against. The full motion was:

“”n view of his failures to enforce the 1964 Public Libraries and Museums Act, this Annual General Meeting of CILIP has no confidence in Ed Vaizey, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries, and instructs Council to work with all other interested parties to protect library, information and knowledge services”

The other motion, from the CILIP leadership, to change the name of the organisation to that of Information and Library Professionals UK, was lost by a margin of 356 in favour and 644 against. This margin is made even larger being that two-thirds needed to vote for it in order for it to proceed. This vote effectively ends the, in the eyes of many observers, distracting renaming debate in CILIP (although it does not end other parts of the rebranding process, as the official press release made clear). Let us now hope a veil is drawn across the whole renaming affair and, as the membership made clear in the other motion, energies are now spent on campaigning. An example of what is meant by this is the open letter by the Scottish part of CILIP against the cuts in Moray: to my knowledge, there has been no such letter by CILIP itself against particular cuts in particular authorities. Perhaps now that will change.

In another example of the new militancy associated with libraries, quite separately, up to 400 people marched through Lincoln demanding an end to the cuts in the county. The photographs are quite astonishing. The message from this weekend has been clear: the library profession and library users have had enough. Push us so far and don’t be surprised if we push back. In a familiar phrase (well, at least to me): you know the situation is bad if the librarians are protesting.

Well, perhaps “shush” is but the idea of having quiet in the library has received support today from two articles, one on Birmingham’s new mega library and one from the USA. Both question the rush in public libraries away from the quiet contemplative places of yesteryear towards the kid-friendly techy cafe-places of many a librarians’ dreams. I, personally, am a “loud” librarian – I chat to everyone, I do fun (well, I think they are) class visits and assemblies and don’t ban mobile phones anywhere. However, that does not mean that “my” library does not have its quiet areas. Quiet, you see, is important. There’s not many public spaces where you can just sit and read, or study, without disturbance. For many people, there’s not such a place at home either. So, being quiet is actually a unique selling point for libraries and in the rush to ditch the half-moon and bun image, librarians are doing themselves down. Big libraries should have space for both, small libraries can have separate times for both. Libraries, you see, should be joyous community hives and contemplative study areas and hymns to the book. We serve the whole community and they need different things from us: serving just one section (or what we think is right) runs the danger of neglecting the others.

Sheffield are making it clear that over half of their libraries will close if people don’t stop protesting and start working with them, unpaid, to keep them open. This is part of a common strategy amongst councils which shifts the onus of responsibility away from themselves and onto local communities. If a local area doesn’t staff it’s own library then it is its own fault if it closes. Cuts from central government mean that everyone has to work harder and it’s the library user’s turn. The questionnaires and surveys, necessary for such cuts to go legally unchallenged, are sometimes weighted towards an expectation that the reader will volunteer. Groups which protest against the closures are thus not helping, but rather hindering, their library service. and, in the end, assist the Council in reducing their budget by, literally, doing their work for them. A lady on Twitter I was in conversation with called this strategy “volunteer grooming” and notes that her eighty year old father in law felt compelled to volunteer after such a questionnaire. People who love their library service then become split between those who want to protest and those who see the closure as inevitable unless they work unpaid to keep it open. Such splits can become quite acrimonious,

To be fair, councils are facing the same problems everywhere and there are only so many solutions to the problem of the deepest cuts to local council budgets in peacetime history. No-one wants to be the one to close a library and so other options are found … and once the volunteer library idea takes hold, it’s hard to stop as it so neatly solves several problems at once. It shifts the blame and it co-opts those most likely to protest and it keeps the libraries open, at least in the short term. OK, it’s not entirely what a purist would call 100% voluntary and it’s bad news for the paid library staff (and presumably any other paid council staff where volunteers are seen as an option) but the library keeps open. But councillors may be tempted to say get real, for this is Local Government Budget Hell so expect a devil’s bargain. Those who believe in an adequately funded and staffed library service may be tempted to say other things.

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Numbers

From 1st April 2017 to end of March 2018, CIPFA reported 127 libraries lost. Since 1st April 2016 to end of March 2017. CIPFA reported 105 libraries closed, bringing the total to 3745 branches. 2015 to end of March 2016: CIPFA reported 121 libraries closed, bringing the total to 3850 libraries. In 2014/15 there was a decline of 106 public libraries, (with 260 static libraries were put under threat of closure/passing to volunteers. 9 mobile libraries under threat in the same period). .

There were 4023 in 2013/14, 4482 in 2009/10 and 4622 in 2003/4. CIpfa have calculated that 121 service points lost in 2015/16, 106 service points were lost in 2014/15, 49 were lost in 2013/14, 74 were lost in 2012/13, 201 in 2011/12, 33 in 2010/11.

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